In early June 2015, Brenda Kigen left her hometown of Eldoret, Kenya, bound for a new life in the United States.
Four flights and over 24 hours later, she arrived at the Atlanta airport, where Auburn cross country coach Mark Carroll was waiting for his new runner.
The two found each other, somewhat miraculously, without the help of cell phones, and Carroll drove Kigen back to Auburn, a place which she had never visited but planned to spend the next four years of her life.
Kigen was exhausted from her travel and, partly due to the fatigue, got sick shortly after her arrival. Even after she returned to full health, she was overwhelmed with life on a new continent.
She struggled to find her way around Auburn’s large campus and adapt to her running schedule, especially in Alabama’s grueling heat.
“When she came in in the summer, she was very overwhelmed," said Kigen’s teammate, Veronica Eder. "You could definitely tell. Coach told her that she was going to be one of our best runners, and she thought he was kidding.”
If anyone could have understood Kigen’s struggles in the transition, it was Carroll, who moved from Ireland to Providence College to run in 1991.
Carroll and his assistant coaches helped Kigen as much as possible, as did her teammates. But for her first few weeks on campus, the freshman felt as far away from home as she was.
After a difficult start to her time on The Plains, Kigen found her footing, both on and off the cross country course. Not only did she adjust, she began to thrive.
Just five months after her arrival and initial struggles, Kigen capped off her cross country season with a trip to the NCAA Championships.
“She’s come a long way,” Eder said. “She’s really worked hard and done really well.”
While qualifying for the NCAA Championships was Kigen’s crowning achievement — and one that had not been accomplished by a female from Auburn since 2010 — it was hardly the only highlight of her first few months in America.
Kigen turned in one of the best freshman seasons in Auburn history, finishing below sixth place in a race only once. Eder bested her by three seconds at the opening meet of the season, but Kigen led the way for Auburn for the remainder of the year.
At the SEC Championships and the NCAA South Regional, she finished fourth overall and second among freshmen.
“When Brenda raced, she seemed to have a very different approach or mindset from what she had in training. … Once she put her spikes on and went on the cross country course, she was just ready to roll,” Carroll said. “It just seemed like from one race to the next, we were just going, ‘Wow, wow, wow.’ It just got better and better every time she raced.”
Though Kigen finished 10th among freshmen at the NCAA Championships, she was disappointed with her 54th-place finish overall. However, she is hopeful the experience will help her achieve her goal for next season — a top-10 finish at nationals.
“It’s really fast [at nationals], and it gave me an experience to run with fast people,” Kigen said. “So now next year, because I’m believing in myself that I can go to cross country nationals, I can make it to be top 10, because I know now what I’m going to do.”
Regardless of her performance in track and field season and future cross country seasons, Kigen’s first year in Auburn has been one to remember, for the ups and the downs.
“I just did great," she said. "That wasn’t my expectation, because when I came here, training was hard, especially during the summer in the climate. Running was hard. Everything was hard.”
Kigen’s come a long way — in more ways than one.
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